A Fort Smith city department that relies heavily upon federal funds anticipates little impact from the ongoing government shutdown unless access to those funds is denied for an extended period of time.

“We are heavily subsidized with federal funds,” Transit Director Ken Savage said. “It’s more than 60 percent. What we typically do between four and six times a year is make a withdrawal, basically a reimbursement, of federal funds of the expenses accrued from the city’s side.”

Savage anticipates the next withdrawal around mid-month.

“We’re pretty conservative with our federal funds,” he said. “We have plenty of funding, at least throughout this year. So it’s not a matter of having funding available; the problem we’re having is being able to access those funds without federal staff at the office.”

In a letter to the Transit Department, Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff said, “The administration strongly believes that a lapse in funding should not occur.”

“There is enough time for Congress to prevent a lapse in appropriations,” he wrote.

While Fort Smith has no plans to interrupt local transit service, Savage said he’s hoping the shutdown doesn’t last.

“Then we can go ahead and make withdrawals without any interruptions,” he said.

If the shutdown continues, “we’ll probably need to visit with finance and administration to just see where we’re at,” he added.